Featured, from left: Councilmember Jorge Salinas, Mayor Pro-Tem David Torres, John H. Krouse, Dean of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine and Vice President of Health Affairs at UTRGV, and Mayor Richard Molina, following Krouse’s keynote speech at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, held on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, as part of the Public Affairs Luncheon organized by the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce.

Photograph By RONNIE LARRALDE

A plan to build a $12.2 million Classroom and Office Building for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine in Edinburg will be considered in Austin when the University of Texas System Board of Regents meets on Monday, February 26, 2018 and Tuesday, February 27, 2018, according to Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, and the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation. Once finished, with the substantial completion date projected for November 2019, the School of Medicine Classroom and Office Building will increase enrollment at the Edinburg campus from 100 to 200 students within one year of completion. The construction could begin as early as September 2018. “This facility is necessary to accommodate current and expected growth in the School of Medicine while maintaining the mission of the school as a catalyst for education in health care,” states the executive summary provided to the UT System Board of Regents by UT System leaders. “The building will house faculty and administrative offices, small group study spaces for the growing medical student population, flexible and general purpose classrooms, conference rooms, and support spaces.” The proposed project will be an extension of the existing $54 million, 88,260 gross-square-foot Medical Education Building, which opened in the summer of 2016, when the first class of future physicians began their advanced studies in Edinburg. The Edinburg EDC is the jobs-creation arm of Mayor Richard Molina, Mayor Pro-Tem David Torres, Councilmember Homer Jasso, Jr., Councilmember Gilbert Enríquez, and Councilmember Jorge Salinas. The Edinburg EDC Board of Directors is comprised of City Councilmember Gilbert Enríquez as President, Edinburg School Board Trustee Miguel “Mike” Farías as Vice-President, Isael Posadas, P.E., as Secretary/Treasurer, and Julio César Carranza and Noé Sauceda, Ph.D. as Members. Canales represents House District 40, of which UTRGV and its School of Medicine have major campuses in the heart of Edinburg.